Thursday, June 30. 2011

Victor Humphreys and Simon Harrison are setting up the tools and extension cords to do more work cleaning up the B&O boxcar. It was an unusually clear day and not too hot - in fact by one report the first time our area has had three clear days in a row in OVER ONE YEAR! So the crew was out in force and besides the above two stalwarts, Lorne Tweed and myself did a lot of scrubbing of rust and old paint by day's end when Victor started applying the new protective primer to areas that had been cleaned.

Ready to Pave

Depot Street is ready to pave, subgrade in and compacted. Weather permitting, that might get done yet this week, along with paving of the new trolley bus loop at the same time.

Spaulding Tower

Spaulding Tower

Here are two images of Spaulding Tower, slated for repainting by our tireless B&G Department. Also noted was new roofing going on Barn 9 as one of their contracted projects.

CSL 3142

CSL 3142

CSL 3142

And here are three more shots of details of the cast iron brake shoes which are badly needed to keep CSL 3142 running. Detailed measurements are taken in the steps to prepare complete mechanical drawings.

Ed. Comment: The Zephyr trainset has been turned for continuing the cleaning and polishing - a VERY LABOR intensive process. The cars now sitting outside are BRILLIANT! Kudos to the workers and the Internal Combustion Department for organizing and ACCOMPLISHING this project!

Monday, June 27. 2011

Nebraska Zephyr car "Juno" before cleaning and polishing, although the dirt and grime doesn't show up that well in this photo.

About three weeks ago we brought the Nebraska Zephyr into the Diesel Shop to begin a very long process of cleaning, buffing and polishing her stainless steel siding. Many, many years of road grime, a lot of cast iron brake shoe dust, and dust from sitting idle in Barn 9 have really collected and just won't come off with a simple washing with a pressure washer. The first few days were spent finding the right materials, wheels, rouge and the best methods for cutting and polishing the current sandpaper feel of the stainless.

A reel of stainless steel wool helps clean off the dirt.

We did find a pretty good method that will hopefully fit our timeframe, which is basically 5 weeks for 5 cars and a locomotive, a total of about 415 feet of train. On the fluted areas, we start with a scotch bright pad, gray or red as others were too harsh, and go a couple passes to break into the dirt pretty good, but not get into the stainless. Then on to the stainless wool, to take off pretty much all of the remaining dirt and debris. The first two steps here are all by hand. Then on to the power tools, a few Milwaukee variable speed buffers with a couple 8 inch, 60 ply cotton muslin sewn wheels and some rouge specifically for stainless from a company called Zephyr Products, that was quite ironic. This stuff does a great job of cutting and polishing. The final step is using a similar type of wheel, but smaller diameter, with no rouge and just going over the same area quicker to clean up any residue and it gives a nice smooth, almost mirror like finish to the fluted sides.

The flat panels are a bit different. There is no way we'll have time to get the finish we would like with the machines, so we start with stainless wool, clean the surface with side to side movements only, and then finish off with P21S polishing soap. Again, all of it is by hand.

The curves from the letter board up the roof were a little more difficult at first as the corrugation is pretty narrow. On top of that, there is a lot more dirt caked in them from there being a lot more horizontal surface area. The quickest way through the dirt was folded up scotch bright pads and more stainless wool. The same method is being used on the area curving down to the belly pans.

So far the Venus, Vesta, and most of Minerva are completed, Juno has been started. Sometime in the next day or two the train will be wyed since it doesn't fit in the shop, let alone the building, and the last two cars will hopefully be completed by the middle to end of next week. Riley, Chris, Pete, Colton, Charlie, Eric, Kevin, the other Kevin, and Jeron have all been pretty busy moving this along quickly. Thank you all for the hard work.

We'll post another update in a week or so, along with progress updates of other projects in the shop.

Sunday, June 26. 2011

Many of you know that my 'life project' at IRM has been restoration of the Sand Springs 68. This past Wednesday and Saturday the car was able to operate to place it on our inspection pit for annual maintenance and lubrication. The plan is to include this car in our upcoming July 4 Trolley Parade, pending good weather.

The members of the Electric Car Department are laboring long and hard to present an event that has not been equaled, lots of appearances and operation by rare equipment! You do not want to miss it.

Brass

In the shop we are continuing to finish and polish brass hardware which will be installed inside the SS 68, now that the many of the other restoration tasks near completion. A pattern was created by our forces and new castings made to replace missing seat handles. Lots of filing, sanding, and then the polishing wheel to yield a mirror like shiny finish.

On the Street

We are all eagerly noting progress on the large project to add underground utilities and infrastructure to Depot Street. Max Tyms is down in one of the new precast concrete vaults.

Setting the Collars

The vaults are set in place and the backfilling done. Today the task was to set the cast iron collars and manhole covers.

The process was to set and level bricks to establish what would be the finished level of the completed manhole. With those set, a cast iron frame was set and the cover placed into it. In this case vintage covers from the Chicago City Railways are being used. CCRys was the operating transit company on the south side of Chicago, before they were all merged to form the public CTA in the 1940's. So at a minimum this cover could not have been cast more recently than almost 70 years ago. Sharp eyed visitors will also see other examples of this element in Chicago transit history at other locations on the property.

Roofwork

Tim Peters continues on the massive restoration of Chicago Rapid Transit 1797. Here is the roof at the east end of the car. Wood has been repaired and consolidated, sanded and smoothed for the eventual installation of a new canvas roof.

Train Festival 2011 in partnership with the Illinois Railway Museum announces the addition of IRM’s historic train set, the Nebraska Zephyr, to the Train Festival lineup. The silver Zephyr, a full matching train, will take passengers to Bureau Illinois and return on July 24. This will be the first time the general public will be allowed to ride this train outside Museum grounds since the Zephyr was taken out of regular service in the 1960’s.

Accompanying the Zephyr to Train Festival 2011 will be ex-Chicago & NorthWestern F7 streamlined diesel locomotive and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy SW7 diesel switch locomotive. All locomotives and passenger cars will be on display during the 4 day event.

CB&Q 9911A and Nebraska Zephyr

The Nebraska Zephyr will be on display for visitors to tour during the day. On Sunday July 24, the Zephyr, pulled by the 9911A, will do something it has not done in over 40 years, offer a public excursion for up to 150 people to Bureau, Il and return. The train has run at the Illinois Railway Museum for years and has left the museum rarely for a private charter or movie shoot. This will be the first opportunity for the general public to ride this historic train outside the museum in decades. The train is scheduled to depart Rock Island at 10am and return around 3:30pm. Lunch will be served on the train in the dinning car. Two classes of service will be offered, coach class and premium class. Premium passengers will be treated to a meal prepared on the train by IRM chefs over the original charcoal grill. Coach passengers will receive a gourmet boxed lunch and beverages. Tickets are limited to 120 coach seats at $219 each and 32 premium parlor seats at $329 each. Tickets include the round trip excursion, lunch, a photo run-by, admission to the event and a ride on history. This will be the only excursion offered on the Nebraska Zephyr. Tickets are available at http://trainfestival2011.com/tickets/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=10.

The Nebraska Zephyr, CB&Q E5, CB&Q SW7 and C&NW F7 locomotives will be on display at Train Festival 2011, July 21-24 in Rock Island, IL. The locomotives will join 7 steam locomotives from around the country, Amtrak locomotives, locomotives from the Iowa Interstate Railroad and others on display for public viewing. Excursions are offered each day behind different locomotives pulling historic passenger cars. Excursions run to different locations in Illinois and Iowa. Also offered at Train Festival 2011 are miniature train rides, children’s area, model trains, riverboat excursions, railroad vendors, children’s concerts, and various railroad displays. More information and tickets are available at www.trainfestival2011.com or by calling the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-747-7800.

Following the introduction of the highly successful "Pioneer Zephyr" in 1934, the first diesel powered streamlined train, the CB&Q took delivery of this train and an identical sister train in 1936 for use in the then highly lucrative and fiercely competitive Chicago-Minneapolis passenger market. They became known as the "Trains of the Gods and Goddesses", because the cars were named for Greek and Roman deities.

Like the "Pioneer Zephyr" and other early streamlined trains, this train and its sister were complete articulated units which could not be uncoupled except by the repair shops. Unlike the earlier streamliners, however, the locomotives of the 1936 Zephyrs were not integral parts of the trains. This prevented an engine breakdown from requiring an entire train to be removed from service. Articulated trains such as this one fell into disfavor soon after the 1936 Zephyrs were built because of the impossibility of varying train lengths.

The 1936 Zephyrs were replaced on the Twin Cities route by newer streamlined equipment in 1947. This train and its sister both then received the name "Nebraska Zephyr" and were used between Chicago, Omaha and Lincoln. Originally seven cars in length, both trains were reduced to five cars in later years. They were retired in 1968.

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 9255 (EMD SW7)This operational SW7 switcher was built in 1950. It is a phase II variation that included a redesigned cab window eliminating the curves on the front. It was acquired from the Burlington Northern in 1995 as Davenport, Rock Island and North Western 121, a shortline jointly owned by BN and CP Rail that operated on the site of Train Festival 2011. It was restored at IRM to CB&Q 9255 in 2006 and operates regularly switching the museums yards.

Chicago & North Western 411 (EMD F7A)This operational F7A was built in 1949 as CNW 4082C. It was acquired in 1999 from Metra as 305 along with Metra 308. It was used in CNW's Chicago commuter service as well as freight service, later being used for work train service on Metra. It was restored to CNW 411 in 2006, and regularly operates at IRM with restored CNW commuter cars.

Monday, June 20. 2011

In the last BLOG entry for this car we identified it as an 8-1-2 Pullman car. Many fans, members, and even serious students of railroad history may be uncertain of what that means.

YOU ASKED FOR IT!!!

Plan 3979 A

For our car, the way to decode 8-1-2 is to refer to the plan and we find it means 8 OPEN SECTIONS, 1 DRAWING ROOM, and 2 COMPARTMENTS. Entering the car from the left we first find the Men's Facilities - a lavatory and smoking room which has a door leading to a modest one hole hopper.

Then there are eight open sections. An open section was the workhorse of overnight rail travel for decades. There are two facing cushioned bench seats for daytime travel. At night those two benches would be made into a lower berth, and an upper berth would be dropped from storage above, below the car roof. Coarse curtains would be drawn providing the very minimum in privacy. For your exercise you would enter the upper berth via a portable shared ladder. You better have earplugs since there was no way to prevent the other sounds from your neighbors, their snores and snorts, passing traffic in the aisles from being heard and noticed.

This was by far the most commonplace and affordable method of experiencing overnight rail travel in a Pullman car. Nowadays, you might be familiar with them only from the classic Hollywood films, many of which staged such scenes for both drama and comic relief.

Next in line as we move through the car was the one drawing room which was the most deluxe accommodation in our car. Noticeably, it was close to the center of the car which provided the most comfortable ride, and the quietest, being as far removed from the trucks as was feasible. And - it included a private lavatory!

Next are the two compartments, similar in furnishings to the drawing room, but on a smaller scale, less lavish, smaller floor space.

Finally there is the separate women's lavatory, about what you might expect as similar to the men's but with dressing table and mirror.

There you have it. With enough resources we hope to repaint and repair the exterior to bring it a very presentable display in our barns. And with enough dollar support (Fund RMCLOU) and hard spent volunteer hours, the interior can be refurbished, open for display, or occasionally operating in our trains.

Sunday, June 19. 2011

As usual there was a wide diversity of activity, so here is SOME of it.

Grading

Buildings and Grounds Manager, Dave Diamond, has made the re-paving of the Depot Street area his priority. Here, Gerry Dettloff is running the skidster, while Dave is in the foreground piloting a shovel. The north end of this project has all the underground infrastructure in place, and backfilled. Finished grading and compacting was being done.

The Vaults

Two large concrete underground electrical vaults have been set in the intersection of Central and Depot. Max Tyms has placed forms and was pouring concrete for the conduit entries.

Brickwork

Lorne Tweed continued on making a set of forms for helping the Steam Department to make new refractory firebrick. This is a tricky exercise in negative space thinking for the forms, to produce the correct positive shape of a new brick.

B and O Boxcar

Ray Pollice was able to come out and help for a day in the Freight Car Department, and we really appreciate his help on a grueling job. He is stripping off old paint and corrosion from the end of our B&O wagontop boxcar. Note the relatively unusual flat ends used in this car construction versus the corrugated ends seen on most boxcars, contemporary to this period.

An Old Saw

The Electric Car Department received the donation of a very nice metal cutting bandsaw and it has a new stand fabricated and is being cleaned up and readied for use.

STILL ON THE HUNT

We are still on the hunt for finding a way to get new brake shoes for our workhorse trolley CSL 3142. It is increasingly difficult to find a foundry today that will accommodate a very small production run, using homemade patterns from IRM. If any of you are familiar with gray iron foundries that might be willing to consider this job, please contact us. Below are images of a set of two patterns, cope and drag, that were used to make new shoes a few years ago for our Chicago and West Towns 141.

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Comments

Bob Venditti about Working on the Orange and BrownSun, 09-24-2017 19:47Great to see this car being
restored. Living in Fla, it's
difficult to visit as often as I'd
like to. Looking forward to seeing
it in IC colors on my [...]

Kirk Warner about Painting the Orange on IC 3345Fri, 09-15-2017 21:03I saw the IC car today and the
paint looks wonderful. The car
will stand out in a train once it
it ready for service. Great job!

Matthew about The Painted LadyFri, 09-15-2017 13:33Hi there I just wanted to say I
really enjoyed working on this car
although you forgot to mention my
help on working on it.

Robert J about Working on the Orange and BrownWed, 09-13-2017 19:32My understanding is that when IC
painted equipment in the orange and
brown that yellow went on firsat as
the primer coat followed by orange
and brown. [...]

Kurt Schlieter about Painting the Orange on IC 3345Wed, 09-13-2017 17:01Look great, but you might want to
seriously consider getting a
pressurized paint pot. These hold 1
to 5 gallons of paint depending on
size. This would [...]

Mike G. about The dream, Believe It!Sun, 09-10-2017 09:11From the satellite view on Google
maps, that appears to be mostly
wooden trestle with one section of
iron truss bridge... which by
itself is probably [...]

Patrick about The dream, Believe It!Thu, 09-07-2017 20:27That might be a bit too much
bridge. Measuring it on Google Maps
makes it out to be around 102 feet.
Using the same tools, the UP bridge
at the river [...]

Roger Kramer about Working on the Orange and BrownTue, 09-05-2017 10:17Hi Matt We estimate the costs for
installing 100 amp 240 volt stand
by service would be between $2500
to $3000. Our shop is now
designated area of [...]

Matt Maloy about Working on the Orange and BrownMon, 09-04-2017 09:34@ Roger, how much would it cost to
get this 10oamp 240 service?
Because I think that would be a
worth-while investment if the
museum installed it.